Farewell Cameroon

This is my last day in Cameroon. I have had a wonderful time; but am tired now and ready to come home. This picture was taken from my hotel window last night and shows Mount Cameroon in the background, the second highest peak in Africa.

Police easily crack down Cameroon protests

We encountered police road blocks going into Douala and all had our papers checked. This article from AFROL News tells why.
"Cameroon's nation-wide anti-government protests started modestly today, with calls for President Paul Biya to step down. But protesters in Douala and Yaoundé were outnumbered by police. Since the food price riots in 2008, 23 February has been the day in the year discontent Cameroonians take to the streets; mostly being quickly dispersed by the police." To read the full article, go to http://www.afrol.com/articles/37416

Travelling to Douala with Joe and Barbara

I am starting on my way home. I got a ride from Bamenda to Douala witk Joe and Barbara, a couple from Northern Arizona who have spent two months touring Cameroon with their guide, Njoke. They stayed in villages, ate local food and saw places that tourist rarely visit. Barbara is a phychiatric professional and by the end of the trip was invited to meet with patients at the local hospital. There are only two Phychiatrists in the whole of Cameroon and a tremendous need. Anyone can help here if they are willing.

Bamenda boy

This is a boy who hangs around the Baptist Centre and wanted his picture taken.

Training in Tubah

My assignment is to develop and implement some simple computer tools to support Councils to be more efficient and improve their revenue collections. One of the barriers is that many of the people I am working with have never used a computer before. In Tubah (a Council area ajoining Bamenda) we sat some employees in front of laptops and had them enter data into spreadsheets. I had to show them how to use a mouse, where the number keys were and assure them that mistakes were easily corrected. After that, they settled in and worked dilligently for several hours, taking turns in reading the numbers aloud and entering them in the spreadsheet. I was amazed at how well they did and they felt proud of learning a new skill.

My friend Amy

Amy is a VSO volunteer from the Philipines. She worked for the government in quite a senior position for 20 years and then took a very early retirement to do something more exciting. She loves her work with the beekeeping co-operative in Belo. I stayed in her house for several days when I first arrived and gained a real respect for what the VSO volunteers do - working on one- to two-year assignments, living locally becoming fully emersed with their communities.

Trip to Fundong

Today I visited Fundong. I was not part of my work program; but Clarence was insistant that I visit his village. He arranged an invitation fron the First Assistant to the Senior Divisional Officer, who send his official car to pick me up. We visited places around the town including this waterfall. They apologized for the fact that this was the dray season and there was only a trickle of water. It must be magnificent in the rainy season. As a visitor to the country of the Kom people, I was presented with a wonderfully embroidered tunic and hat which is unique for the district.

Main Street in Santa

This week I have been travelling to several Councils to introduce them to the program that I have been been working on. I met with the Mayor of Santa and then worked with Kareen the VSO volunteer there to load the spreadsheet on the computer; and start to train someone in data entry. Incidentally. I paid for two seats in the Taxi on the way back to Bamenda and had a comfortable ride in the front seat,even though the driver loaded 4 people in the back. This seems quite common as none of the 4 complained!

The Lake at Bambalang

North West Cameroon is vey hilly and there are a couple of huge man-made lakes used to generate hydro electric power. The Lake at Bambalang is beautiful. We went down there are visiting Anatou and I took some pictures. The guys with me bought smoked mudfish, which looked disgusting; but actually tasted delicious

The reality of being a nine year old in Africa.

This is a little girl in Anatou's class in the Bambalang school. I didn't catch her name. She is happy to be going to school; but because her mother is working in the fields all day, she has to bring her baby brother to school with her to the classroom. She wasn't the only one either. Two other children in the class, a boy and another girl also had babies strapped to their backs. It makes me want to cry; that we live in a world where nine year olds can't just be children.

I delivered exercise books today to a school in Bambalang, where our sponsor child attends. Frani Beckow and Nathanial Poole sent money with me and I am able to buy books here cheaper than in Canada and it supports the local retailer too. The children were delighted.

My military escort.

I went to Bafut today to present my program and towards the end of the day the Mayor invited me to come to a funeral. It was in his "quarter" and the woman was a well-respected 76 year old. Every was invited to celebrate with lots of food and beer.
I met some soldiers from the base at Up-station, which is near where I am staying, so I asked if I could travel back with them. I assumed that, as they were in full uniform, they must have some sort of military vehicle - at least a jeep. I was wrong again. They were happy to travel with me and that meant we all crammed into a public taxi to 3C Juction an then stood by the roadside to negotiate with another. At least I felt safe.

Shamsul

My main contact in Cameroon is Shamsul Acktar. He is a VSO volunteer from Calcutta and has been here for three years. The Cameroonians are amazed by him, as they think he is a white man; yet he bargains, negotiates and understands corruption better than they do. He is seen here with the Mayor of Babessi, showing him our financial management tool.

Little boy in Jakiri

This little guy lives next door to Erica, the Municipal Treasurer of Babessi. After calling "White man, White man!" I snapped him and his sly look.

Youth Day in Bamenda

February 11th is a National holiday here to celebrate youth. Every school from primary to the technical colleges turn our and march past the Grandstand on Bamenda's Commercial Avenue. It's quite a sight and goes on for hours. Luckily, I was able to find a seat on the balcony of the International Hotel and order cool drinks while I viewed the children going by.

Wedding in Babessi

One of the fun things about working with Councils here is that I get invited to weddings. The Mayor officiates at weddings during office hours and as a "special guest from Canada" I often get invited. Today it was Briget marry a man she met in Holland. As is usual in any Cameroonian event there was food and beer afterwards for all the guests.

A visit to Jakiri

Shamsul invited me to stay at his place in Jakiri, about 3 hours north of Bamenda; while we worked on our program with Babessi Council. Like most of the towns and villages in this area, it is extemely dusty during the dry season. However, its position in the hills, surrounded by good cattle rearing country and the fact that its away from the main road, give it a cetain charm and make it one of the favorite places, I have visited.

Clarence from Fundong

I have mention Clarence before as the young man who helped me with my workshops last year. He is irrepressable. He thinks nothing of travelling two hours each way to meet me for a meal and then if he has invited me, he insists on paying. He works for people for nothing and trusts in their goodwill to get paid. What he told me is that in his religion, andy stranger may be a god so they must be treated well. A good message form a stranger is a message from his God, a bad message is a message form the devil. When I asked him how he knows the difference, he just laughed.

No washing carrots

This was a sign I saw at the football stadium in Bamenda.

GHAPE

This is Loveline. She manages a microfinance group called GHAPE. Grounded, Holistic Approach to ending Poverty. Check it out at ghape.org They have been going for 12 years and have 1,400 borrowers. The only thing that is holding them back is financing. While I am here I am trying to get them support in applying for a volunteer to help them write funding applications to the major lenders.

The President

President Biya has been in power for 26 years and is running for another 7 year term in October. No-one has any doubt that he will be re-ected. He made his first visit to Bamenda in 20 years in December. The city spend at least a year preparing: repaving street that he would drive on knocking down ugly building near the parade routes, repainting everything they could. They even put up street lights all the way to the airport, which hasn't been used sinse he came last time.

The jester

I was chatting with the security guard at the bank (they are always bored and ready to chat), when I saw this guy come by on his bike. I just had to take a picture. When I did, he circled, jumped off his bike and started playing me a tune and dancing a dance. The guard translated for me - it was a song welcoming the "white man" to the town. I gave him more money than he was expecting, so he sang another and quite a crowd gathered round. It was just one of those strange things that happen here.

Paradise on Earth Waste Disposal

So I was walking from a meeting and about to get a taxi at Veterinary Junction, when I saw a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, On the side in big letters was "Paradise on Earth Wate Disposal". I immedately thought of my friend, ,who runs a waste disposal business in Grand Forks and decided to take a picture. As I was doing so, the owner came out of the yard and we started chatting.
Atanga Martin is a fascinating guy. He had won $5,000 from a British NGO in a competition promoting enviromental consciousness in Africa. With the money, he bought the truck, rented a piece of land and started a recycling business. This is unusual in Cameroon, where there is absolutely no formal waste disposal system. Anyway, we became friends and spent a couple of hours going to his composting facilty and seeing how he recycles glass into concrete products. This is a fascinating country.

Riding Bikes

While taxis are the way to get around if you are going 2-5 kilometres, for shorter distances people travel by bike. There are several at every corner usually chinese machines anout 200cc and you just hop on the back and get taken to exactly where you want to go for 100 francs (about 25cents). We volunteers are advised not to take them as they are not really safe. But today I had to go to several parts of town so decided to try it. It was fun and very easy. They don't go too fast as the traffic is so congested, they can't get any speed up. At least none of my drivers were carrying propane tanks like the guy in the picture. This is a true private sector transit system that works!

My work in North West Cameroon

Most of my posts have been about life here; but I have not told you much about my work. I am here to support Financial Management in local Councils by working with several VSO volunteers who are doing long-term assignments with the Councils. Most of the volunteers do not have any financial training; so we are creating some specific tools (basically excel spreadsheets) which will allow them to collect, analyse and make use of data in a way that the current manual systems cannot do. One tool, for instance, tracks revenue and expenses by type over a number of years, so that year-to-year and month-to-month anomolies can be displayed graphically. This is very useful in a country where there is a lack of trust in those collecting taxes and spending public money.

Taxi!

It's about 3km from the Baptist Centre to City Chemist - the main intersection in Bamenda. The way to travel is by Taxi. I just go the the corner and stand there. A taxi will come by - I say "City Chemist" or "Main Market" and he either opens the door or drives away without comment depending on where he is going. He will keep picking up passengers along the way until he is full; which means 4 in the back and two in the front (beside himself). Most people have bags or babies or both, so its quite cosy and very friendly. The taxis are almost all Toyota Corollas - most over 20 years old. Duck tape is an important feature of most.

A typical store

I love the stores here. Each specializes in one thing and is about the size of a single garage. This guy is selling shovels. However it is typical here that if you go in to ask for something, they will say they can get it. They take my money, run down the street, are gone a few minutes and then come back with the requested item. It's a great system. The exception is peanut butter. I have asked in three places so far and the best answer I've had is "Peanut butter is over".

Canucks in Bamenda

So I saw this guy on the street near City Chemist and asked him about his shirt. At first he didn't understand until I said "I come form Vancouver". Oh he said "Is that a country?" So much for finding a Canuck Fan! He was happy to let me take his photo anyway.

Snap me please!

I was walking through the market on my way to work, when one boy noticed my camera. Before I had the lens cap off, there were 5 of them. The children of the villages are such a delight.

Meeting friends in a Bar

Clarence, who helped organize my workshops last year, heard that I was in Belo and hopped on the back of a bike to come 45 kms from Fundong to meet me. We connected at "Three Corners" (every village seems to have a place by that name!) and sat down at the nearest bar. The bars here are great. I love to sit outside and say hello to people walking by. A friend of Clarence came by and we were soon having lively (load in Cameroon) discussions about foriegn aid, politics and football over good beer. A typical afternoon in a Cameroonian bar.

Beautiful Belo

I am working in a small town called Belo about one hour north of Bamenda. It is in hilly; but fertile country and they grow lots of corn, soy, plantain, cocoyams etc. I am staying with Amy, a VSO from the Philipines. It is a ten minute walk to the village centre along this road.

Travelling by bus in Cameroon

The scrummage at Douala airport was as bad as ever; but I eventually found the taxi driver sent to pick me up, even though he didn't speak English and had trouble negotiating what was a fair tip for the six people it took to carry my two bags 100 yards from the terminal to the parking lot. It was a relief to get to the Lewat Hotel with it's air conditioning as it was still 28 degress outside at 10pm. Next day I was met by a young man named Confidence who had been sent with two bus tickets to pick me up. I would have complained about the 7 hour bus trip in an ancient cramped bus; but Confidence had just spent 7 hours on the overnight bus to come and get me and he wasn't complaining. Here is a picture of him eating breakfast at the bus station before we left. We didn't drink all yhose beers; but someone else did before 9am that morning.

The Continental Breakfast

I always had the British view on the "continental breakfast" - a sticky danish and a stale croissant instead of a real breakfast of Bacon and Eggs. Well I got an education this morning at the Ibis hotel at Charles de Gaule airport. Stations were set up for Croisants: large, small, chocolate, fruit, all fresh and melting in the mouth; Breads: Rye, whole wheat and traditional French, all baked locally within the last few hours: Ham and chesse: a variety of great French cheeses, delicate hams and Spannish tortillas: Fruit: Pineapple, melon, etc, with different yogurts. All this with a variety of cereals, juices, and coffees. The place was packed with locals so it was obviously the place to come. I am a convert. Well stocked up for my flight to Douala today.

Paris - The Grand City

I got the sense of Paris as a Grand City. On my three previous trips, I have gone to the main sites: Eifel tower, Louvre, Notre Dame etc. Today it was cold – 4 celsius – so I opted for the bus tour. It was great. I saw all the great avenues and how the city is laid out around the Seine. I learned the history of events and how they shaped the City: the storming of the Bastille in 1779; the flood of 1910; the student uprising in 1968 (I was here that year and it’s history now!). I hopped off the bus and had lunch at a brasserie in the Gare de Lyon – a beautiful old railway station. I stayed awake all day, even though I only got 2 hours sleep on the plane last night. I’m sure to sleep well tonight and adjust to local time to be ready for adventures tomorrow.

En route to Africa

There was a cetain sense of peace when I dropped off my two fifty pound bags at Victoria airport. Whatever I packed, I will live with for the next five weeks - whatever I forgot I will do without. Travelling is actually pretty easy - all I have to do is line-up, walk, wait, sit down, walk, wait, line up etc. There are no decisions to make, no stress, just following directions and putting myself in the hand of the airline gods.

Packing done - waiting for Visa

I have been tossing things into the spare room all week and today I got them all into two suitcases. I am still 5 pounds under on the wieght limit. Anxiety is about my Visa, which was only sent today from Ottawa - If it doesn't arrive tomorrow, I will be delayed.

School supplies

It’s both heartbreaking and inspiring to visit the schools in Cameroon. The children are so eager, keen and happy; yet they have almost nothing. Last year, I was surprised when I arrived at CBNPS Bafut, a primary school for about 150 children, that the students were sweeping the playground! They also keep the dirt floors of the school impeccably clean. They have no electricity, the pit latrine is outside and they do much of their work writing on slates. I am taking them school supplies, and games like scrabble and boggle; but not paper products. They are heavy and I can buy them locally for the same price as here, and that supports the local merchants too.

I need some old Digital Cameras.

Last time I was in Cameroon I look my old (3 megapixal) digital camera and at the end of the trip gave it to Valery who looks after guests at the Baptist Centre, where I was staying. He was thrilled – it is so much cheaper than using a film camera - he is thinking about starting a small business. If you have an old digital camera in good working order and can get it to me in the next week, I will take it with me and give it to someone who will appreciate it. You may get some pictures like this in return.

I am returning to Cameroon

I received by airline ticket today, the last official confirmation I wanted to actually be able to tell you all that I will be leaving for Cameroon on January 22nd and returning on February 26th.
I will be volunteering in three locations in the North West - Belo, Bamenda and Babessi, working with the councils in those locations and also with VSO volunteers that are also working in the field of Financial Management. We will be developing some pilot projects in the areas of Financial Reporting, Budgeting and revenue collection that can be documented and rolled out in other Councils later.
I will be posting daily when I arrive so please feel free to follow me